Ahtisaari wins Nobel Peace Prize

OSLO (AFP) - The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to Martti Ahtisaari, the former Finnish president who has spent 30 years ending conflict in trouble spots ranging from Kosovo to Namibia and Indonesia.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee hailed the 71-year-old Ahtisaari “for his important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts.” “These efforts have contributed to a more peaceful world and to ‘fraternity between nations’ in Alfred Nobel’s spirit,” committee head Ole Danbolt Mjoes said.

Ahtisaari, a quiet, portly man now afflicted by rheumatism, told Norwegian broadcaster NRK that his work as the UN special envoy to Namibia had been the highlight of his career.

“Of course Namibia is the most important since it took so long,” he said, adding that he was “very pleased” to win the prestigious prize.

As the UN secretary general’s special envoy, Ahtisaari guided Namibia towards a peaceful independence in 1990 after more than a decade of negotiations.

He also oversaw the 2005 reconciliation between the Indonesian government and Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels, ending a three-decade conflict that killed some 15,000 people.